But this disbandment was by no means so commonplace and artless an affair as might at first sight appear. One of the first measures taken in hand by Bolingbroke and by his creature Ormonde was the remodelling11 of the Army, by which term was signified the elimination12 of officers and of whole corps13 that favoured the Protestant succession, to make way for those attached to the Jacobite interest. Prompted by such motives14, and wholly careless of the feelings of the troops, they violated the old rule that the youngest regiments should always be the first to be disbanded, and laid violent hands on several veteran corps. The Seventh and[4] Eighth Dragoons, the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-third, Thirty-second, Thirtieth, Twenty-ninth, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-second, and Fourteenth Foot were ruthlessly sacrificed; nay15, even the Sixth, one of the sacred six old regiments, and distinguished16 above all others in the Spanish War, was handed over for dissolution like a regiment1 of yesterday.[1] There were bitter words and stormy scenes among regimental officers over such shameless, unjust, and insulting procedure.
Aug. 1 12 .
All these designs, however, were suddenly shattered by the death of Queen Anne. The accession of the Elector of Hanover to the throne was accomplished17 with a tranquillity18 which must have amazed even those who desired it most. Before the new King could arrive the country was gladdened by the return of the greatest of living Englishmen. Landing at Dover on the very day of the Queen's death, Marlborough was received with salutes19 of artillery21 and shouts of delight from a joyful22 crowd. Proceeding23 towards London next day he was met by the news that his name was excluded from the list of Lords-Justices to whom the government of the country was committed pending24 the King's arrival. Deeply chagrined25, but preserving always his invincible26 serenity27, he pushed on to the capital, intending to enter it with the same privacy that he had courted during his banishment28 in the Low Countries. But the people had decided29 that his entry must be one of triumph; and a tumultuous welcome from all classes showed that the country could and would make amends30 for the shameful31 treatment meted32 out to him two years before.
On the 18th of September King George landed at Greenwich, and shortly afterwards the new ministry33 was nominated. Stanhope, the brilliant soldier of the Peninsular War, became second Secretary-of-State; William[5] Pulteney, afterwards Earl of Bath, Secretary-at-War; Robert Walpole, Paymaster of the Forces; while Marlborough with some reluctance34 resumed his old appointments of Captain-General, Master-General of the Ordnance35, and Colonel of the First Guards. He soon found, however, that though he held the titles, he did not hold the authority of the offices, and that the true control of the Army was transferred to the Secretary-at-War.
1715.
May 24.
How weak that Army had become was presently realised at the outbreak of the Jacobite rebellion in the autumn of 1715. The estimates of 1714 had provided for a British establishment of twenty-two thousand men, of which two-thirds were stationed in Flanders and in colonial garrisons, leaving a dangerously small force for the defence of the kingdom. Even this poor remnant the Jacobite Lords had tried to weaken, by introducing a clause in the Mutiny Act to confine all regiments to the particular districts allotted36 to them in the British Isles37. This insidious38 move, which was designed to prevent the transfer of troops between Ireland and England, was checked by the authority of Marlborough himself. The King, it seems, had early perceived the perils40 of such a situation; and accordingly, in January, the Seventh Dragoons were recreated and restored under their old officers, together with four more of the old regiments.[2] In July the prospect41 of a rising in Scotland made further increase imperative42, and orders were issued for the raising of thirteen regiments of dragoons and eight of foot, some few of which must for a brief moment detain us.
The first of the new regiments of dragoons was Pepper's, the present Eighth Hussars, which for a time had shared the hard fate of the Seventh, and was now, like the Seventh, restored to life. The next six, Wynn's, Gore's, Honeywood's, Bowles's, Munden's, and[6] Dormer's, are now known respectively as the Ninth Lancers, the Tenth and Eleventh Hussars, the Twelfth Lancers, and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Hussars, regiments which have made their mark on many a field in the Peninsula and in India, while two of them bear on their appointments the name of Balaclava. The remaining six were disbanded in 1718.[3] Of the foot six regiments also perished after a short life in 1718;[4] the remaining two were old regiments, the Twenty-second and the Thirty-fourth, each of which was destined43 in due time to add to its colours the name of a victory peculiar44 to itself.
It may be asked whether no use was made of the hundreds of veterans who had returned from the wars of Flanders. The answer gives us a curious insight into the old conception of a reserve. On the first alarm of a rising, the whole of the officers on half-pay were called upon to hold themselves ready for service;[5] and concurrently45 twenty-five companies of Chelsea pensioners46 were formed to take over the duties of the garrisons and to release the regular troops for work in the field. For many years after as well as before this date the same system is found in force; and of this, as of so many obsolete47 institutions, there is fortunately a living relic48 still with us. In March 1719 ten of these veteran companies were incorporated into a regiment under Colonel Fielding, and having begun life with the name of Fielding's Invalids, survive to this day as the Forty-first Foot.[6]
I shall not detain the reader with any detailed49 [7]account of the abortive50 insurrection of 1715. The operations entailed51 by an invasion of England from the north are always the same. The occupation of Stirling cuts off the Highlands from the Lowlands, and bars any advance from the extreme north. An invasion from the Lowlands may be checked on either flank of the Cheviots, on the east coast at the lines of the Tweed or the Tyne, or, if headed back from thence, on the west coast at the line of the Ribble. If both Highlands and Lowlands are in revolt, there is the third resource of a simultaneous attack from north and south upon Stirling. This last course lay open to the insurgents53 on this occasion but was not accepted. The two decisive engagements were accordingly fought, one at Sheriffmuir, a little to the north of Stirling, the other at Preston, whither the insurgents of the Lowlands, checked by an insignificant54 force on the east coast, made a hopeless and futile55 march to the west, and were enveloped56 by English forces marching simultaneously57 from east, west, and south. None the less the peril39 to England was great. The force at Stirling was far too weak for the duty assigned to it; and Sheriffmuir was one of those doubtful actions from which each army emerges with one wing defeated and the other victorious58. The English force on the Tweed was made up of raw recruits, and was so weak in numbers that General Carpenter, a veteran of Flanders and Spain, who commanded it, accomplished his work chiefly by the bold face with which he met a dangerous position. Such was the military impotence of England after a bare two years of peace.[7]
[8]
1716.
1717.
The panic caused by the insurrection swelled60 the military estimates of 1716 very considerably61. Apart from the new regiments raised for the occasion, the strength of every existing troop and company had been augmented63, while the addition of a battalion64 to each regiment of Guards increased the brigade to the total of seven battalions65, which constituted its strength unaltered almost for the next two centuries. The full establishment voted by Parliament for Great Britain was thirty-six thousand men, exclusive of course of troops in Ireland, and of six thousand Dutchmen, who had been sent over by the States-General in fulfilment of obligations by treaty. The very next year, however, saw the establishment diminished by one-fourth, and in May the King announced that he had given orders to reduce the army by ten thousand men more. The estimates for 1718 accordingly provided for but sixteen thousand men in Great Britain, while those for 1719 diminished even that handful by one-fourth, and brought the total down to the figure of twelve thousand men.
1718.
1719.
Then as usual the numbers were found to be dangerously weak. A quarrel between Spain and the Empire, and the ambitious designs of Cardinal66 Alberoni brought about a breach67 between England and Spain, which finally culminated68 in the attack and defeat of the Spanish fleet by Admiral Byng off Cape69 Passaro. The action was fought before war had actually been declared, and Byng affected70 to treat it as an unfortunate accident; but Alberoni was too much incensed71 at the subversion72 of his designs to heed73 such empty blandishment as this. He prepared to avenge74 himself by making terms with the Jacobites and by fitting out an expedition from Cadiz for the support of the Pretender. The force was to be commanded by Ormonde, the same poor, misguided man who had supplanted75 Marlborough in Flanders; but the menace was formidable none the less. At the meeting of Parliament the King gave warning that an invasion[9] must be looked for, and received powers to augment62 the Army to meet it. Nevertheless, it was thought best once more to borrow six thousand foreigners from the Dutch and Austrian Netherlands; and England's contribution to her own defence consisted in no more than the transfer of four weak battalions from the Irish to the British establishment. The King's ministers took credit, when the danger was over, for the moderation with which they had exercised the powers entrusted77 to them, failing to see that resort to mercenary troops at such a time was a policy wanting as much in true statesmanship as in honour.
April 16.
June 10.
For the rest the peril vanished, as four generations earlier had the peril of a still greater Spanish invasion, before wind and tempest. The Spanish transports were dispersed78 by a gale79 in the Bay of Biscay, and the great armament crept back by single ships to Cadiz, crippled, shattered, barely saved by the sacrifice of guns, horses and stores from the fury of the storm. Two frigates80 only reached the British coast and landed three Scottish peers—Lords Tullibardine, Marischal and Seaforth—with three hundred Spanish soldiers, at Kintail in Ross-shire. Here the little party remained unmolested for several weeks, being joined by some few hundred restless Highland52 spirits, but supported by no general rising of the clans82. At length, however, General Carpenter detached General Wightman with a thousand men from Inverness, who fell upon the insurgents in the valley of Glenshiel and, though their force was double that of his own, dispersed them utterly83.[8] The campaign ended, like all mountain-campaigns, in the burning of the houses and villages of the offending clans; and thus ignominiously85 ended this hopeless and futile insurrection. Its most remarkable86 result was that it drove Lord Marischal and his brother into the[10] Prussian service, and gave to Frederick the Great one of his best officers and most faithful friends—that James Keith who fell forty years later on the field of Hochkirch.
Sept. 21.
Such aggression87, failure though it was, naturally led the English to make reprisals88; and in September a British squadron sailed from Spithead with four thousand troops on board for a descent on the Spanish coast. The original object of the expedition had been an attack on Corunna, but Lord Cobham,[9] who was in command, thought the enterprise too hazardous89, and turned his arms against Vigo. The town being weakly held was at once surrendered, and the citadel90 capitulated after a few days of siege. A considerable quantity of arms and stores, which had been prepared for Ormonde's expedition, was captured, and with this small advantage to his credit, Cobham re-embarked his troops for England.[10] Shortly afterwards Alberoni opened negotiations91 for peace, which he purchased at the cost of his own dismissal. The treaty was signed on the 19th of January 1720, and England entered upon twenty years of unbroken peace.
1722.
But before I touch upon the history of that peace I may be allowed to advance two years to record an event which may fittingly close the first thirty years of conflict with Jacobitism and its allies. On the 16th of June 1722 died John, Duke of Marlborough. Constantly during his later campaigns he had suffered from giddiness and headache, and in May 1716 the shock caused by the death of his daughter, Lady Sunderland, brought on him a paralytic92 stroke. He rallied, but was struck down a second time in November of the same year; and although, contrary to the received opinion, he again rallied, preserving his speech, his memory, and his understanding little impaired94, yet it was evident that his life's work was done. In the few [11]years that remained to him he still attended the House of Lords, spending the session of 1721 as usual in London, and retiring at its close to Windsor Lodge95. There at the beginning of June in the following year he was smitten96 for the third time, and after lingering several days, helpless but conscious, he at dawn of the 16th passed peacefully away.
On the 14th of July the body was brought to Marlborough House. In those days London was empty at that season, and only in Hyde Park, where the whole of the household troops were encamped, was there sign of unusual activity. Day after day the Foot Guards were drilled in a new exercise to be used at the funeral; the weeks wore on, the day of Blenheim came and went, and at length on the 9th of August all was ready. From Marlborough House along the Mall and Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Corner, from thence along Piccadilly and St. James's Street to Charing97 Cross and the Abbey, the way was lined with the scarlet98 coats of the Guards. The drums were draped in black, the colours wreathed with cypress99; every officer wore a black scarf, and every soldier a bunch of cypress in his bosom100. Far away from down the river sounded minute after minute the dull boom of the guns at the Tower.
The procession opened with the advance of military bands, followed by a detachment of artillery. Then came Lord Cadogan, the devoted101 Quartermaster-General who had prepared for the Duke so many of his fields, and with him eight General Officers, veterans who had fought under their great Chief on the Danube and in Flanders. Among these was Munden, the hero who had led the forlorn hope at Marlborough's first great action of the Schellenberg, and had brought back with him but twenty out of eighty men. Then followed a vast cavalcade102 of heralds103, officers-at-arms and mourners, with all the circumstance and ceremony of an age when pomp was lavished104 on the least illustrious of the dead; and in the midst, encircled by a forest[12] of banners, rolled an open car, bearing the coffin105.[11] Upon the coffin lay a complete suit of gilt106 armour107, above it was a gorgeous canopy108, around it military trophies109, heraldic devices, symbolic110 presentations of the victories that the dead man had won and of the towns which he had captured, strange contrast to the still white face, serene111 beyond even the invincible serenity of life, that slept within.
As the car passed by there rang out to company after company of the silent Guards a new word of command. "Reverse your arms." "Rest on your arms reversed." The officers lowered their pikes, the ensigns struck their colours, and every soldier turned the muzzle112 of his musket113 to the ground and bent114 his head over the butt115 "in a melancholy116 posture117." The procession moved slowly on, and the troops, still with arms reversed, formed up in its rear and marched with it. Fifty-two years before, John Churchill, the unknown ensign of the First Guards, had marched in procession behind the coffin of George Monk118, Duke of Albemarle; now he too was faring on to share Monk's resting-place.
At the Horse Guards the Guards wheeled into St. James's Park and formed up on the parade-ground, where the artillery with twenty guns was already formed up before them. The car crept on to the western door of the Abbey, and then rose up for the first time that music which will ever be heard so long as England shall bury her heroes with the rites119 of her national Church. Within the Abbey the gray old walls were draped with black, and nave120 and choir121 and transept were ablaze122 with tapers123 and flambeaux. Of England's greatest all were there, the living and the dead. The helmet of Harry124 the Fifth, still dinted with the blows of Agincourt, hung dim above his tomb, looking down on the stolid125 German who now sat upon King Harry's throne, and on his heir the Prince of Wales, who had[13] won his spurs at Oudenarde. And at the organ, humble126 and unnoticed, sat William Croft, little dreaming that he too had done immortal127 work, but content to listen to the beautiful music which he had made, and to wait till the last sound of the voices should have died away.[12]
Then the organ spoke128 under his hand in such sweet tones as are heard only from the organs of that old time, and the procession moved through nave and choir to King Henry the Seventh's chapel129. By a strange irony130 the resting-place chosen for the great Duke was the vault131 of the family of Ormonde, but it was not unworthy, for it had held the bones of Oliver Cromwell.[13] Then the voice of Bishop133 Atterbury, Dean of Westminster, rose calm and clear with the words of the service; and the anthem134 sang sadly, "Cry ye fir-trees, for the cedar135 is fallen." The gorgeous coffin sank glittering into the shadow of the grave, and Garter King-at-Arms, advancing, proclaimed aloud, "Thus has it pleased Almighty136 God to take out of this transitory world unto his mercy the most high, mighty137 and noble prince, John, Duke of Marlborough." Then snapping his wand he flung the fragments into the vault.
As he spoke three rockets soared aloft from the eastern roof of the Abbey. A faint sound of distant drums broke the still hush138 within the walls, and then came a roar which shook the sable139 hangings and made the flame of the torches tremble again, as the guns on the parade-ground thundered out their salvo of salute20. Thrice the salvo was repeated; the drums sounded faintly and ceased, and all again was still. And then burst out a ringing crash of musketry as the Guards, two thousand strong, discharged their answering volley. Again the volley rang out, and yet again; and then the drums sounded for the last time, and the great Duke was left to his rest.[14]
[14]
From such a scene I must turn to the further work that lies before me in the events of the next twenty years; and it will be convenient to deal first with the political aspect of the Army's history. England, it must be observed, had not yet recovered from the indiscipline and unrest of the Great Rebellion. Since the death of Elizabeth the country, except during the short years of the Protectorate, had not known a master. William of Orange, who had at any rate the capacity to rule it, was unwilling140 to give himself the trouble; Marlborough, while his power lasted, had been occupied chiefly with the business of war; and during the reign76 of both war had been a sufficient danger in the one case and a sufficient cause of exultation141 in the other to distract undisciplined minds. Now, however, there was peace. A foreign prince had ascended142 the throne, a worthy132 person and very far from an incapable143 man, but uninteresting, ignorant of England, and unable to speak a word of her language. The tie of nationality and the reaction of sentiment which had favoured the restoration of Charles the Second were wanting. The country too, after prolonged occupation with the business of pulling down one king and setting up another, had imbibed144 a dangerous contempt of all authority whatsoever145.
Other influences contributed not less forcibly to increase the prevalent indiscipline. Many old institutions were rapidly falling obsolete. The system of police was hopelessly inefficient146, and the press had not yet concentrated the force of public opinion into an ally of law and order. In all classes the same lawlessness was to be found; showing itself among the higher by a fashionable indifference147 to all that had once been honoured as virtue148, an equally fashionable indulgence towards debauchery, and an irresistible149 tendency to decide every dispute by immediate150 and indiscriminate force. Among the lower classes, despite the most sanguinary penal151 code in Europe, brutal152 crime, not of violence only, was dangerously rife153. No man who was worth robbing could consider himself safe in London,[15] whether in the streets or in his own house. Patrols of Horse and Foot Guards failed to ensure the security of the road between Piccadilly and Kensington;[15] and further afield the footpad and the highwayman reigned154 almost undisturbed. Nor did great criminals fail to awake lively sympathy among the populace. The names of Dick Turpin and Jack155 Sheppard enjoy some halo of heroism156 to this day; and frequently, when some desperate malefactor157 was at last brought to Tyburn, it was necessary to escort him to execution and, supposing that the gallows158 had not been cut down by sympathisers during the night, to surround him with soldiers lest he should be rescued by the mob. All over England the case was the same. Strikes, riots, smuggling159, incendiarism and general lawlessness flourished with alarming vigour160, rising finally to such a height that, by the confession161 of a Secretary-of-State in the House of Commons, it was unsafe for magistrates162 to do their duty without the help of a military force.[16]
Against this mass of disorder164 the only orderly force that could be opposed was the Army. It will presently be seen that the Army had grave enough faults of its own, but the outcry against it was levelled not at its faults but at its power as a disciplined body to execute the law. So far, therefore, the unpopularity of the Army was fairly universal. But its most formidable opponents were bred by faction165, the Jacobites who wished to re-establish the Stuarts naturally objecting to so dangerous an obstacle to their designs. The howl against the Army was raised in the House of Commons as early as in 1714, and in 1717 a Jacobite member who, being more conspicuous166 for honesty than for wisdom, was known as "Downright Shippen," opened a series of annual motions for the reduction of the forces. This self-imposed duty, as he once boasted to the House, he fulfilled on twenty-one successive occasions, though on thirteen of them he had found no seconder [16]to support him.[17] If this had been all, no great harm could have resulted; but the watchword of a baffled opposition167, artfully stolen from old times of discontent, was too useful not to be generally employed, and "No Standing93 Army" became the parrot's cry of every political adventurer, every discontented spirit, every puny168 aspirant169 to importance. Walpole himself did not disdain170 to avail himself of it during the four years which he spent out of office between 1717 and 1721, and the stock arguments of the malcontents were never urged more ably nor more mischievously172 than by Marlborough's Secretary-at-War.[18] The Lords again were little behind the Commons, and Jacobite peers who had commanded noble regiments in action were not ashamed to drag the name of their profession through the dirt.
1714-1739.
In such circumstances, where the slightest false step might have imperilled the very existence of the Army, the administration of the forces and the recommendation of their cost to the House of Commons became matters of extreme delicacy173. It has already been told how the King, as the alarm of the first Jacobite rebellion subsided175, voluntarily reduced the Army by ten thousand men at a stroke. Such policy, dangerous though it was from a military standpoint, was undoubtedly176 wise; it was the sacrifice of half the cargo177 to save the ship, an ingenious transformation178 of a necessity into a virtue. Even before the Spanish War was ended but fourteen thousand men were asked for as the British establishment, the remainder of the Army being hidden away in Ireland; and the same number was presented on the estimates up to the year 1722. In the autumn of that year, however, the administration insisted that the number should be raised to eighteen thousand. The spirits of the Jacobites had been raised by the birth of Prince Charles Edward; there had been general uneasiness in the country; troops had been [17]encamped ready for service all the summer, and six regiments had been brought over from Ireland. The augmentation was bitterly opposed in Parliament, but was carried in the Commons by a large majority, and was judiciously179 executed, not by the formation of new regiments but by raising the strength of existing corps to a respectable figure.[19] Until this increase was made, said Lord Townsend in the House of Lords in the following year, it was impossible to collect four thousand men without leaving the King, the capital, and the fortified180 places defenceless.[20]
Having secured his eighteen thousand men, Walpole resolved that in future this number should form the regular strength for the British Establishment. In 1727 the menace of a war with Spain brought about the addition of eight thousand men, but in 1730 the former establishment was resumed and regularly voted year after year until the outbreak of the Spanish War in 1739. Year after year, of course, the same factious181 motives for reduction were put forward and the same futile arguments repeated for the hundredth time. "Slavery under the guise182 of an army for protection of our liberties" was one favourite phrase, while the valour of the untrained Briton was the theme of many an orator183. Men who, like Sir William Yonge and William Pulteney, had held the office of Secretary-at-War, were, when in opposition, as loud as the loudest and as foolish as the most foolish in such displays. "I hope, sir," said the former in 1732, "that we have men enough in Great Britain who have resolution enough to defend themselves against any invasion whatever, though there were not so much as one red-coat in the whole kingdom." On the side of the Government the counter arguments were drawn9 from an excellent source, namely, from the disastrous184 results of wholesale185 disbandment [18]after the Peace of Ryswick. The establishment was, in fact, far too small. It would have been impossible (to use Walpole's own words) even after several weeks' time to mass five thousand men at any one point to meet invasion, without stripping the capital of its defences and leaving it at the mercy of open and secret enemies.
Foiled in its attempts to reduce the numbers of the Army, the Opposition sought to weaken it by interference with its administration and discipline, for which mischief187 the discussion of the Mutiny Act gave annual opportunity. Here again it was Walpole who set the evil example. He it was who maintained that the Irish Establishment must be counted as part of the standing Army, who insinuated188 that the British regiments, with their enormous preponderance of officers as compared with men, were potentially far stronger than they seemed to be, who encouraged the Commons to dictate189 to the military authorities the proportion that should be observed between horse, foot, and dragoons.[21] He too it was who imperilled the passing of the Mutiny Act by advancing the old commonplace that a court-martial in time of peace was unknown to English law, and that mutiny and desertion should be punished by the civil magistrate163. He it was once more who blamed the ministry for sending the fleet to the Mediterranean190 instead of keeping it at home to guard the coast, and gave his authority to the false idea that the function of a British fleet in war is to lie at anchor in British ports. Such were the aberrations191 of a conscience which fell blind directly it moved outside the circle of office.
The Opposition was not slow to take advantage of such powerful advocacy, but fortunately with no very evil results. An address to the King was carried, praying that all vacancies192, except in the regiments of Guards, should be filled up by appointment of officers on the list of half-pay. The King willingly acceded,[19] for indeed he had already anticipated the request; and this rule was conscientiously193 adhered to, both by him and by his successor. It made for economy, no doubt, but it also weakened what then counted as the most efficient form of military reserve; and the result was that officers were forbidden to resign their commissions, being allowed to retire on half-pay only, so that their services might still be at command.[22] The Articles of War were also sent down to the Commons, and may still be read in their journals.[23] It must suffice here to say that they made careful provision for the trial of all but strictly194 military crimes by the civil power. Here, however, was a new precedent195 for allowing Parliament a voice not only in the broad principles, but in the details of discipline.
The Opposition in both Houses did not at once take advantage of this innovation, but confined itself to discourses196 on the inutility and danger of a Mutiny Act at large. It was not surprising that the ignominious84 Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford197, should have declaimed against the Act, but it was a sad revelation of factious feeling to find an old colonel, Lord Strafford, declaring that the country got on very well without it in King William's time. Nor must it be thought that, because the Act was ultimately passed every year, no inconvenience resulted from the obstruction198 in Parliament. On at least one occasion it was not renewed in sufficient time. The courts-martial held after its expiration199 were therefore invalid3, and as prisoners could not be tried twice for the same offence, a number of them escaped scot-free.[24] It was not until 1726 that the attacks upon the measure began to subside174, and even then the Government was afraid to introduce necessary [20]amendments, lest by calling attention to the Act it should blow the dull embers of hostility200 anew into flame.[25]
The next attempted encroachment201 of Parliament was of a more dangerous nature, though it was more than a little excused by extreme provocation202. In the heat of resentment203 against the opposition to his favourite scheme of an Excise204 Bill, Walpole in 1733 persuaded the King not only to dismiss his opponents from their places about the court, but to deprive the Duke of Bolton and Lord Cobham, Colonels of the King's Dragoon Guards and of the Blues205, and Cornet William Pitt of the King's Dragoon Guards[26] of their commissions. This was to inflict206 the severest of military punishments short of death for a political disobligation, and was justly seized upon by the Opposition as a monstrous207 abuse. Lord Morpeth accordingly brought forward a motion in the Commons to make officers of the rank of lieutenant-colonel or above it irremovable except by sentence of court-martial or upon address of either House. The issue thus raised was direct, since by the Articles of War no officer could be dismissed except by Royal Order or sentence of a general court-martial. The debate was very ingenious on both sides, but the motion was lost without a division. The most remarkable speech was that of General Wade208, who opposed Lord Morpeth on the ground that he had the greatest difficulty in collecting officers for a court-martial, and that they would be still more negligent209 if they could be dismissed only by sentence of their fellows. "In short, sir," he said, in words of significant warning, "the discipline of our army is already in a very bad way, and, in effect, this alteration210 will only make it worse."
[21]
The study of the mingling211 of political and military influence on the Army will enlighten us as to the cause of this indiscipline. In the first place, it will be noticed that there was no Commander-in-Chief. Lord Cadogan had succeeded Marlborough as captain-general, but even Marlborough had been powerless since his restoration, and he was not in the modern sense of the word a commander-in-chief. The result was that the whole of the authority attached to the office fell into the hands of the Secretary-at-War. That functionary212 still received as heretofore a military commission, and was nominally213 a mere214 secretary, not a minister nor secretary-of-state; and early in the reign he took the opportunity in the person of William Pulteney to repudiate215 anything approaching to a minister's responsibility.[27] So far as any one was answerable for the Army, it was that secretary-of-state whose duties were later apportioned216 to the Home Office; and hence we find the Secretary-at-War, though really in control of the whole Army, sending daily requests to the Secretary-of-State for the preparation of commissions,[28] since he himself in theory could sign documents not as the King's adviser217, but only as his clerk. As a mere matter of routine this arrangement was most inconvenient218, but this would have signified little had it not also been dangerous.[29]
Peculiar circumstances, now long obsolete, gave this irresponsible secretary peculiar powers. In the first place, it must be remembered that as yet barracks were [22]almost unknown. There were, it is true, barracks at the Tower, at the Savoy, at Hull219, and at Edinburgh, wherein there was accommodation for the half or even the whole of a battalion; and there was also a barrack at every garrisoned220 town capable of holding at least the handful of men who were supposed to keep the guns in order. But for the most part the Army was scattered221 all over the country in minute detachments,[30] for inns were the only quarters permitted by the Mutiny Act, and the number of those inns was necessarily limited. In Ireland the paucity222 of ale-houses had led comparatively early to the construction of barracks, with great comfort alike to the soldiers and to the population, but in England the very name of barrack was anathema223.[31] It was in vain that military men pointed224 to the sister island and urged that Great Britain too might have barracks. The Government was afraid to ask for them, and the opposition combated any hint of such an innovation, "that the people might be sensible of the fetters225 forged for them."[32]
The apportionment of quarters fell within the province of the Secretary-at-War; and it is obvious that whether the presence of soldiery were an advantage to a town or the reverse, the power to inflict it could usefully be turned to political ends. A frequent accusation226 was that troops were employed to intimidate227 the voters at elections; and indeed the newspapers, not very trustworthy on such points, assert that at the election at Coventry in 1722 the foot-soldiers named two persons and the sheriff returned them.[33] Whether this be true [23]or false it was not until 1735 that the Mutiny Act provided for the withdrawal228 of the troops to a distance of at least two miles from the polling-place during an election. But it was not so much for their interference with the free and independent voter as for the burden which they laid on the innkeeper that the soldiers were disliked. Whether this burden was really so grievous or not is beside the question; it was, at any rate, believed to be intolerable.[34] As early as in 1726 the King had asked for additional powers in the Mutiny Act to check the evasion229 by the civil authorities of their duty of quartering the men, and it was just after this date that municipalities began to abound230 in complaints.[35] The question was one of extreme difficulty for the Secretary-at-War, since the outcry of the civilians231 was balanced by a no less forcible counter-cry of officers. Municipalities seemed to think that no military exigency233 could excuse the violation234 of their comfort. Riots, for instance, were expected at Bath which, as a watering-place, was exempt235 from the duty of finding quarters for soldiers. The Secretary-at-War, though he did not shrink from sending troops thither236 to put down the rioters, looked forward to a disturbance237 between the civil and military elements as inevitable238.[36] Southampton, again, cried out bitterly against the arrival within her boundaries of a whole regiment of dragoons. [24]The colonel retorted that the regiment in question had been dispersed in single troops ever since its formation, and that this was actually his first opportunity of reducing it to order and discipline.[37] On some occasions the officers were certainly to blame, though they appear rarely to have misbehaved except under extreme provocation. Thus we find an officer, who had been denied a guard-room at Cirencester, solving the difficulty by the annexation239 of the town hall,[38] another still more arbitrary putting the Recorder of Chester under durance,[39] and a cornet of dragoons revenging himself upon an innkeeper by ordering eight men to march up and down before the inn for an hour every morning and evening, in order to disturb the guests and spoil the pavement.[40] On one occasion, indeed, we see two officers making the wealthiest clothier of Trowbridge drunk and enlisting240 him as a private.[41] These are specimens241 of the petty warfare242 which was waged between soldiers and civilians all over the kingdom, actions which called forth81 pathetic appeals from the Secretary-at-War to the offenders243 not to make the Army more unpopular than it already was. The warning was the more necessary, since, to use Pulteney's words, giddy insolent244 officers fancied they showed zeal245 for the Government by abusing those whom they considered to be of the contrary party. This, however, was but the natural result of making the Army a counter in the game of party politics. The only moderating influence was that of the King, who, if once convinced of any abuses committed by the soldiery was inexorably severe.[42]
Yet, on the whole, it should seem that soldiers were far less aggressive towards civilians than civilians towards soldiers. It is abundantly evident that in many places the civil population deliberately246 picked quarrels with [25]troops in order to swell59 the clamour against the Army;[43] and officials in high local and municipal station, in their rancour against the red-coats, would stoop to lawlessness as flagrant as that of the mob. Lord Denbigh falsely accused the soldiers employed against the famous Black Gang of poachers, a sufficiently247 dangerous duty, of leaguing themselves with them for a share in the profits.[44] The Mayor of Penzance deliberately obstructed248 dragoons, who had been sent down to suppress smuggling, in the execution of their duty; the inference being that his worship was the most notorious smuggler249 on the coast.[45] The Mayor of Bristol threw every obstacle, technical or captious250, that he could devise, in the way of recruiting officers.[46] The Mayor of St. Albans, most disgraceful of all, took the Secretary-at-War's passes from certain discharged soldiers, whipped them through the streets, and gave them vagrant's passes instead, with the result that the unhappy men were stopped and shut up in gaol251 for deserters.[47] Redress252 for such injuries as these was not easily to be obtained; for of what profit could it be to these poor fellows to speak to them of their legal remedy? The soldiers were subject to a sterner and harder law than the civilians, and the civilians never hesitated to take advantage of it. They thought nothing of demanding that an officer should be cashiered unheard, solely253 on their accusation, and that too when redress lay open to them in the courts of law.[48] The difficulties of the Secretary-at-War in respect of these complaints are pathetically summarised by Craggs: "If I take no notice of such things I shall be petitioned against by twenty and thirty towns; if I inquire into them the officers think themselves discouraged; if I neglect them I shall be speeched every day in the House of Commons; if I give any countenance254 to them I shall disoblige the officers. My own opinion is that I can do no greater [26]service to the Army than when, by taking notice of such few disorders255 as will only affect a few, I shall make the whole body more agreeable to the country and the clamour against them less popular in the House of Commons.[49]"
With traps deliberately laid to draw the troops into quarrels, with occasional experience of such brutality256 as has been above described, and with members of the House of Commons incessantly257 branding soldiers as lewd258, profligate259 wretches260, it is hardly surprising that there should have been bitter feeling between the Army and the civil population. But even more mischievous171 than this was the tendency of civilians, as of the House of Commons, to interfere186 with military discipline. It is tolerably clear, from the immense prevalence of desertion, and from the effusive261 letters of thanks written to magistrates who did their duty in arresting deserters, that the great body of these functionaries262 were in this respect thoroughly263 disloyal. Men could hardly respect their officers when they saw the civil authorities deliberately conniving264 at the most serious of military crimes. But this was by no means all. We find Members of Parliament interceding265 for the ringleaders of a mutiny,[50] for deserters,[51] for the discharge of soldiers, sometimes, but not always, with the offer to pay for a substitute;[52] and finally, as a climax266, we see one honourable267 gentleman calmly removing his son from his regiment on private business without permission either asked or received.[53] And the Secretary-at-War liberates268 the mutineers, warns the court-martial to sentence the deserter to flogging instead of death, since otherwise interest will procure269 him a pardon, and begs General Wade, one of the few officers who had the discipline of the Army at heart, to overlook the absence of the member's son without leave.
[27]
A parallel could be found to all these examples at this day, it may be said. It is quite possible, for such ill weeds once sown are not easily eradicated270, but the roots of the evil lay far deeper then than now in the overpowering supremacy271 of the Secretary-at-War. That official throughout this period continued to correspond directly with every grade of officer from the colonel to the corporal, whether to give orders, commendation, or rebuke272, wholly ignoring the existence of superior officers as channels of communication and discipline.[54] His powers in other directions are indicated by the phrase, "Secretary-at-War's leave of absence,"[55] which was granted to subalterns, without the slightest reference to their colonels, to enable them to vote for the Government's candidate at by-elections.[56] We find him filling up a vacancy273 in a regiment without a word to the colonel,[57] instructing individual colonels of dragoons when they shall turn their horses out to grass,[58] and actually giving the parole to the guard during the King's absence from St. James's.[59] All these orders, relating to purely274 military matters, were issued, of course, by the King's authority, though not always in the King's name; and, indeed, as the volume of work increased, directions, criticisms, and reproofs275 tended more and more to be communicated by a clerk by order of the Secretary-at-War. In fact, the absolute control of the Army was usurped276 by a civilian232 official who, while arrogating277 the exercise of the royal authority, abjured278 every tittle of constitutional responsibility.
The result of such a system in such an age as that of Walpole may be easily imagined. All sense of military subordination among officers was lost. Their road to advancement279 lay, not by faithful performance of their duty for the improvement of their men and the satisfaction of their superiors, but by gaining, in what fashion [28]soever, the goodwill280 of the Secretary-at-War,[60]—by granting this man his discharge, advancing that to the rank of corporal, pardoning a third the crime of desertion. "Our generals," said the Duke of Argyll in the House of Lords at the opening of the Spanish War, "are only colonels with a higher title, without power and without command ... restrained by an arbitrary minister.... Our armies here know no other power but that of the Secretary-at-War, who directs all their motions and fills up all vacancies without opposition and without appeal."[61] Well might General Wade be believed when he asserted that the discipline of the Army was as bad as it could be.
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1
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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invalids
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| 病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
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depletion
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| n.耗尽，枯竭 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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garrisons
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| 守备部队，卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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8
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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remodelling
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| v.改变…的结构[形状]( remodel的现在分词 ) | |
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elimination
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| n.排除，消除，消灭 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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salutes
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| n.致敬，欢迎，敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎，致敬( salute的第三人称单数 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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chagrined
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| adj.懊恼的，苦恼的v.使懊恼，使懊丧，使悔恨( chagrin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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banishment
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| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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meted
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| v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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ordnance
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| n.大炮，军械 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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concurrently
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| adv.同时地 | |
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pensioners
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| n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 ) | |
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obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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48
relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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50
abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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51
entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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52
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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53
insurgents
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| n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 ) | |
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54
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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55
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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56
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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58
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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59
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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60
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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augment
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| vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张 | |
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Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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66
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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subversion
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| n.颠覆，破坏 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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supplanted
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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80
frigates
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| n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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82
clans
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| 宗族( clan的名词复数 )； 氏族； 庞大的家族； 宗派 | |
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83
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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84
ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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85
ignominiously
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| adv.耻辱地，屈辱地，丢脸地 | |
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86
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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87
aggression
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| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
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88
reprisals
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| n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
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89
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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90
citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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91
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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92
paralytic
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| adj. 瘫痪的 n. 瘫痪病人 | |
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93
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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94
impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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96
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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97
charing
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|
| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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98
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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99
cypress
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| n.柏树 | |
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100
bosom
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|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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101
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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102
cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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103
heralds
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|
| n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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104
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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106
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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107
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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108
canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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109
trophies
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|
| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
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110
symbolic
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|
| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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111
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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112
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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113
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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114
bent
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|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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115
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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116
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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117
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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118
monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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119
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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120
nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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121
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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122
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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123
tapers
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| （长形物体的）逐渐变窄( taper的名词复数 )； 微弱的光； 极细的蜡烛 | |
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124
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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125
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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126
humble
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|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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127
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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128
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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129
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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130
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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131
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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132
worthy
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|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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133
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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134
anthem
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| n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌 | |
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135
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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136
almighty
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|
| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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137
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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138
hush
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|
| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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139
sable
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|
| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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140
unwilling
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|
| adj.不情愿的 | |
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141
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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142
ascended
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|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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143
incapable
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|
| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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144
imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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145
whatsoever
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|
| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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146
inefficient
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|
| adj.效率低的，无效的 | |
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147
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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148
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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149
irresistible
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|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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150
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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151
penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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152
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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153
rife
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|
| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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154
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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155
jack
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|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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156
heroism
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|
| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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157
malefactor
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| n.罪犯 | |
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158
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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159
smuggling
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| n.走私 | |
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160
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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161
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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162
magistrates
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|
| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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163
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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164
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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165
faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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166
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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167
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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168
puny
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|
| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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169
aspirant
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| n.热望者；adj.渴望的 | |
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170
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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171
mischievous
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|
| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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172
mischievously
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|
| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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173
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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174
subside
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| vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降 | |
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175
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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176
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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177
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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178
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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179
judiciously
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| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
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180
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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181
factious
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|
| adj.好搞宗派活动的，派系的，好争论的 | |
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182
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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183
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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184
disastrous
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|
| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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185
wholesale
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|
| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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186
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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187
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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188
insinuated
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| v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
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189
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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190
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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191
aberrations
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|
| n.偏差( aberration的名词复数 )；差错；脱离常规；心理失常 | |
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192
vacancies
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| n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺 | |
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193
conscientiously
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|
| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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194
strictly
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|
| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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195
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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196
discourses
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| 论文( discourse的名词复数 )； 演说； 讲道； 话语 | |
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197
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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198
obstruction
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| n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物 | |
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199
expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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200
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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201
encroachment
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| n.侵入，蚕食 | |
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202
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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203
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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204
excise
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| n.(国产)货物税；vt.切除，删去 | |
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205
blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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206
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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207
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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208
wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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209
negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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210
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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211
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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212
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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213
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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214
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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215
repudiate
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| v.拒绝，拒付，拒绝履行 | |
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216
apportioned
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| vt.分摊，分配（apportion的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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garrisoned
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| 卫戍部队守备( garrison的过去式和过去分词 )； 派部队驻防 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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paucity
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| n.小量，缺乏 | |
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223
anathema
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| n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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225
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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226
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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227
intimidate
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| vt.恐吓，威胁 | |
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228
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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229
evasion
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| n.逃避，偷漏(税) | |
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230
abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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231
civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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233
exigency
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| n.紧急；迫切需要 | |
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234
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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236
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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annexation
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| n.吞并，合并 | |
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enlisting
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| v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的现在分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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243
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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245
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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obstructed
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| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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smuggler
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| n.走私者 | |
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captious
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| adj.难讨好的，吹毛求疵的 | |
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251
gaol
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| n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢 | |
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redress
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| n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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254
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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258
lewd
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| adj.淫荡的 | |
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259
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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effusive
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| adj.热情洋溢的；感情(过多)流露的 | |
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262
functionaries
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| n.公职人员，官员( functionary的名词复数 ) | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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conniving
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| v.密谋 ( connive的现在分词 )；搞阴谋；默许；纵容 | |
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interceding
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| v.斡旋，调解( intercede的现在分词 )；说情 | |
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266
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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267
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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268
liberates
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| 解放，释放( liberate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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269
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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270
eradicated
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| 画着根的 | |
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271
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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272
rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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273
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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274
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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275
reproofs
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| n.责备，责难，指责( reproof的名词复数 ) | |
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276
usurped
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| 篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权 | |
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277
arrogating
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| v.冒称，妄取( arrogate的现在分词 )；没来由地把…归属（于） | |
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278
abjured
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| v.发誓放弃( abjure的过去式和过去分词 )；郑重放弃（意见）；宣布撤回（声明等）；避免 | |
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279
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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280
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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